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HelpUsGrowtheIAFETributeGarden

from The Faircracker Summer Newsletter-July 2023

from The Faircracker Summer Newsletter-July 2023, page 56

Record Attendance/Increased Se...

Celebrate a special occasion, or the life of someone special, honor someone who made an impact on your life or career, or honor a co-worker’s accomplishments by donating to the IAFE Education Foundation Garden. Your donations will also be helping the Foundation fulfill its mission to support, through fundraising, the educational, charitable, research, or literacy activities in the advancement and improvement of agriculture fairs, expositions, and shows.

Donations can be made in any amount of $25.00 or more. For every donation made, a flower will be placed in the garden on our website, along with an acknowledgement of who (or what) your gift is honoring. Donors will receive a commemorative seed packet. Plant the seeds in your own garden or give them to those you've honored to be enjoyed throughout the summer!

IAFE Education Foundation Tribute Garden Contributions can be made between March15, 2023 through October 15, 2023.

IAFE Education Foundation 3043 E Cairo St., Springfield, MO 65802

3. L.C Scramlin, CFE Oakland County Fair, Davisburg, MI

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International Association of Fairs and Expositions Ambassadors Selected

Springfield, MO – Seven individuals were selected to join the International Association of Fairs and Expositions (IAFE) Ambassador Team. These selected individuals were named after a competitive selection process and will serve the IAFE for a two-year term.

Each member of the prestigious IAFE Ambassador Team serves a vital role in our association and within the fair industry. The ambassadors are selected to support the mission of the IAFE through active outreach to state, provincial, regional, and county agricultural fairs, shows, exhibitions, and expositions,” Marla Calico, President and CEO, said.

These seven selected individuals will join two returning ambassadors to complete a nine-person team. The Ambassadors are responsible for welcoming new members, communicating IAFE benefits, organizing member programs at the Annual IAFE Convention and generally representing the fair industry.

Members of the ambassador team include:

Jenni Axelson - Sherburne County Fair, MN

Jennifer Dunn - Linn County Fair, IA

Courtney Cox - Adams County Fair, CO

Kady Porterfield - Kittitas County Fair, WA

Lonna Breshears - Western Idaho Fair

Mackenzie Coburn - Eastern States Exposition

Rachael Lough - Carolina Classic Fair, NC

Emily Zajac - Oregon Beverage Services

Tasha Hyder - Clay County Agricultural Fair, FL

The International Association of Fairs and Expositions (IAFE), based in Springfield, Mo., is a voluntary, nonprofit corporation, serving state, provincial, regional, and county agricultural fairs, shows, exhibitions, and expositions. Its associate members include state and provincial associations of fairs, non-agricultural expositions and festivals, associations, corporations, and individuals engaged in providing products and services to its members, all of whom are interested in the improvement of fairs, shows, expositions, and allied fields.

For more information, visit www.fairsandexpos.com, follow the IAFE on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, or call 800.516.0313.

Clay County Agricultural Fair

Reminder that IAFE Convention Registration opens July 5th. Make sure to tag #FAIRTOK in your TikTok's and you could win a pizza party for up to 10 people. Deadline is October 2nd. Categories are: Agriculture, Carnivals and Food. Judges will also choose the funniest and best use of sound. Videos will be showcased at IAFE-The Network Convention!

Fairs will RISE in Salt Lake City for the IAFE’s 132nd Annual Convention & Trade Show, taking place November 26 -29, 2023. Don’t wait until November to get your IAFE fix, networking and educational experiences happen year round. Visit the new and approved IAFE website to see everything IAFE offers: fairsandexpos.com

Zone 2! Kelly Collins

OABA Hits the Ground During Capitol Hill Lobbying Days

By John Ariale, Husch Blackwell Strategies – OABA’s Government Relations

Team

In May, nearly 20 OABA Members and, representing the fair industry, Marla Calico, Vicki Chouris and Shari Black, flew to Washington for our first lobby day of the new 118th Congress. Over the course of thirty-six hours, your OABA representatives teamed up to reach out to thirty-two Members of Congress and staff. Members of Congress were particularly interested in the perspective of our fair participants. Legislators finally connected the dots between the challenges of our American carnivals and how it translates to an adverse effect on our County and State Fairs. Our agenda focused on three major asks:

Support our industry by Co-Sponsoring the CARE Act (H.R. 1787);

Support H-2B Cap Relief Language in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Bill; and Support the continued non-funding of egregious anti-industry measures in the FY24 Department of Labor, Health and Human Services Appropriations Bill.

The Carnivals Are Real Entertainment (CARE) Act

Representative Zoe Lofgren, former Chairwoman of the House Committee on the Judiciary’s Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship, developed a potential solution for developing a reliable workforce for those in the outdoor mobile entertainment industry who have traditionally relied on utilizing 7,500 –10,000 H-2B workers annually. Her proposal calls for a new category of visas for guest workers in the mobile entertainment business in the existing P-visa framework.

This new category, P-4, would be limited to carnivals or circuses that travel around the United States on a temporary or seasonal basis; or providers of services normally affiliated with either that travel around the United States on a seasonal or temporary basis to provide services to State, County, and local fairs and festivals, or support events sponsored by not-forprofit organizations for fundraising.

The P nonimmigrant visa (NIV) classification was created by the Immigration Act of 1990, Public Law 101-649 of November 29, 1990, specifically to provide for certain athletes, entertainers, and artists who are coming to perform in the United States. To work for a P-1, P-2, or P-3 visa recipient in the U.S., an applicant must be coming to the United States to perform essential support services that cannot be readily performed by a US worker and is an indispensable part of the performance of services to be performed. Historically, P-1 thru P-3 visa applicants came to the U.S. for a temporary purpose such as a festival or to tour and so forth.

The “P” visa currently covers foreign nationals who are entertainers and artists coming to the U.S. to participate in a culturally unique program, and many circus performers come to the U.S. under the P-1 visa.

While the P-1 visa classification is available for foreign national entertainers coming to the U.S. temporarily, it historically has also been available to essential support personnel who are an integral part of the performance of a P-1 entertainment. As such, the Pvisa structure, intent, and practical application conforms well with the outdoor mobile entertainment industry well.

Why the CARE Act Makes Sense

The existing framework and intention of the P-Visa Category fits the outdoor mobile entertainment industry perfectly and does not require the creation of a new visa program;

Adding a P-4 category that includes the mobile entertainment industry removes approximately 10,000 traditional H-2B visas allowing them to be utilized by others who require H-2B employees;

The annual need for H-2B visas – as reported by the Department of Labor’s certified need – is grossly unmet despite limited cap relief provided by Congress.

The Carnivals Are Real Entertainment (CARE) Act incorporates restrictive language that Congress has enacted in the H-2B program every year since FY17 – requiring certification that sufficient U.S. workers are not available AND the employment of such individuals will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of workers in the United States similarly employed.

For us to make headway on this measure, we will continue to work with Congresswomen Lofgren and Salazar to drive Members of Congress to co-sponsor the CARE Act. During our meetings on the Hill, this was one of the major requests your OABA team made of each office.

H-2B Cap Relief in the FY24 Appropriations Bill

While the industry awaits some Congressional action that affords real, permanent H-2B cap relief, we have utilized the appropriations process to secure flexibility in the existing statutory caps associated with the H-2B program. As a result of OABA’s collective government relations efforts, we secured the inclusion of cap relief language in the Fiscal Year 2023 appropriations bill. Section 101 (6) of Division A of Public Law 117-180, Continuing Appropriations and Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2023, extended the authorization previously provided in Section 204 of Division O of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022. This language provided the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security with the authority to make available additional H-2B visas for FY 2023.

On Dec. 15, 2022, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Labor (DOL) jointly published a temporary final rule increasing the numerical limit (or cap) on H-2B nonimmigrant visas by up to 64,716 additional visas for all of (FY) 2023.

Of the 64,716 additional visas, 44,716 were made available only for returning workers (workers who received an H-2B visa or were otherwise granted H-2B status in one of the last three fiscal years). The remaining 20,000 visas are set aside for nationals of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras (collectively called Northern Central American countries) and Haiti, who are exempt from the returning worker requirement.

OABA strongly urges Members of Congress to include this provision once again in the FY24 Department of Homeland Security Appropriations bill currently being considered by Congress.

Labor Provisions in the FY24 Appropriations Bill

A 2015 interim final rule on H-2B employment sought to increase the wages rates arbitrarily and unilaterally for H-2B workers well above rational economic levels. Congress recognized that the rule was a threat to jobs and small businesses and included much needed H-2B relief in the Fiscal Year 2016 Consolidated Appropriations Act (PL 114-113), and has prohibited funding certain provisions of the DOL Rule since that time. Small and seasonal businesses continue to have problems with the Department of Labor’s H-2B certification process; the implementation of changes to wage surveys; the de facto enforcement of provisions prohibited by P.L. 114-113; and issues pertaining to the implementation of modifications made to the returning worker procedures. OABA advocates the continuation of the prohibition against enforcing corresponding employment, the 3⁄4 guarantee rule; and defining seasonal need provisions.

The regulations under the rule require that employers offer and provide required wages and benefits to H-2B workers and workers engaged in corresponding employment. Corresponding employment for purposes of the H-2B program is the employment of non-H2B workers by an employer that has an approved H-2B labor certification when those workers are performing either substantially the same work included in the job order or substantially the same work performed by the H-2B workers, with exceptions for certain incumbent workers. H-2B employers are required to pay workers the highest of the prevailing wage rate or the federal, state, or local minimum wage. They must offer a three-quarters guarantee (similar to that under the H-2A program) that ensures payment of wages for at least three-fourths of the contract period.

In addition to the cap relief measures noted above, we have successfully worked to ensure that these arbitrary provisions included in the 2015 interim final rule are not enforced. Since the 114th Congress, temporary provisions on the H-2B visa have been regularly enacted as part of annual appropriations bill related to DOL labor certification. Language included in DOL appropriations acts for each year from FY2016 to FY2023 address the H-2B prevailing wage, requires use of the DHS regulatory definition of H-2B temporary need, and prohibits the use of funds to enforce the definition of corresponding employment and the three-quarters guarantee rule. In addition, DOL appropriations acts for each year from FY2015 to F2023 include “staggered entry” provisions that give employers in the seafood industry with approved H-2B petitions additional time (beyond the approved start date) to bring in workers.

OABA strongly urges Members of Congress to continue including provisions regarding prevailing wage, and those provisions that prohibit the enforcement of corresponding employment, the 3⁄4 guarantee rule; and defining seasonal need provisions in the FY24 Department of Labor Appropriations bill currently being considered by Congress.

Other Legislation We are Watching

In addition to the primary legislative agenda outlined above, OABA also supports and endorses significant legislation that creates true cap relief for the H-2B program. While we continue to advocate for the inclusion of the CARE Act language in any bill that might be introduced, I wanted to highlight a few additional initiatives that have been introduced in this Congress that are helpful to our efforts: John Ariale is a Principal and the Director of the Federal Appropriations Practice at Husch Blackwell Strategies where he works with Gregg Hartley, William Fox and Lynn Jacquez as part of OABA’s Government Relations Team in Washington, DC. Husch Blackwell Strategies represents OABA before Congress and the Administration.